Link roundup for 10 February 2009

This must be the most unfortunate toy water pistol ever.

Here's what Michael Phelps should have said.

I'll be watching for this Danish film about the substitute teacher from Hell (or maybe from someplace much worse).

The Jews are plotting to take over the world in 2012 by staging a fake alien invasion. Don't laugh, it was foretold by the prophet Muhammad. That posting also led me to this profile of David Icke, the world's foremost conspiracy theorist, who appears to have developed his world-view by watching the entire V television series while on LSD.

This jihadist met his virgins a little faster than he planned.

From the anti-abortion movement, here's a fine whine to savor.

Amy Alkon looks at our culture's weird disdain for beauty.

Roy Zimmerman revels in the torments of sleazy, hypocritical Republicans.

Uncle Sidney recalls the black soldiers who fought for segregated America during World War II.

Anna Belle has a fascinating posting about Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the awkward historical relationship between the black and female struggles for equality.

Recent events suggest that the laws the rest of us must obey don't apply to the high and mighty.

The banks now being bailed out by taxpayers aren't interested in preserving American jobs.

Dissenting Justice challenges Obama's continuation of the Bush "rendition" program (it's torture we can believe in!) and some leftists' exculpatory response to it, sparking quite a debate. Main postings are here, here, here, and here.

Public support for Obama's bloated, pork-laden "stimulus" plan is collapsing: only 37% of Americans favor it, 62% (including 42% of Democrats) think it should have more tax cuts and less spending, and Obama's own sky-high popularity is starting to suffer.

US job losses have so far been concentrated in one sector.

Biden's speech at NATO is the new administration's first major pronouncement on foreign policy. It's guardedly reassuring -- an alliance with Russia would hugely benefit us, though I doubt it's possible with the Putin regime in power -- but ambiguous.

The US gains popularity worldwide, while Russia and China sink.

Hard economic times and long-simmering resentments provoke wildcat strikes across Europe, and Europeans are learning to use technology to organize against their arrogant rulers, as we did in the struggle to stop the illegal-alien amnesty in 2007.

The Taliban now dominate Pakistan's Swat Valley, only 100 miles from the country's capital. Their behavior hasn't improved.

A schoolgirl in Britain is terrorized by a mob for being Jewish (note: in Britain, the word "Asian" usually means Pakistani, that is, Muslim). American religious bigots, at least, use more refined methods.

Judea Pearl laments the world's descent into self-deceit in the face of evil. One man who can't be accused of such a descent is this Israeli leader whose influence will grow after today's election. Also read this posting on obfuscation about Islamic misogyny.

CAIR, at least, is being exposed for what it is.

The Holocaust used other methods besides gas chambers.

The Pope continues to promote extremist nutcases.

Claims that the MMR vaccine was linked to autism were based on faked data. Read this too.

For the first time, an extinct animal has been brought back by cloning.

A longevity gene has been found.

Latin America's rain forests are coming back.

For combating global warming, the methods most likely to be effective are not those which have been getting the most attention. Black Sun Journal also has great postings on the subject here and here. And give Obama credit for recognizing that scientific reality is independent of public opinion.

The Lifeboat Foundation reviews the benefits of mind uploading -- a very worthwhile article if you ignore the rather silly pictures (if you don't know what mind uploading is, read this).